cool inventions

Model Diane Dorsey demonstrates the new motorizedAquaplane, which was put on display for the first time at the Inventor's Convention in Los Angeles, Calif., Dec. 5, 1938. The craft is powered by a four horsepower motor, which inventor Raymond Strawn says will function even when submerged, and carries two gallons of gasoline, enough for a 25 mile cruise.

A Port Authority officer demonstrates a self propelled catwalk car near the Manhattan end of the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, Aug. 25, 1960. The demonstration was held in a 2,200 ft. section of the 8,000 ft. tunnel, which connects New York City with New Jersey. The car was intended to hasten traffic supervision and bottleneck relief.

Pictured is a swooping roof design at a national service station in Retford, England, Sept. 22, 1961. Technically known as a hyperbolic derabold structure, the reinforced concrete roof weighs about 90 tons. There will be a motel, a restaurant and a repair section on the site when the station is completed.

Peewee, a toy Boston Bulldog, appears to recognize the features of his owner, Doris Brownlee, who is getting a television test in San Francisco, Calif., March 1, 1938. This is a type of home receiving cabinet being experimented on in the San Fransisco laboratory of the Farnsworth Television Company. The man at left is unidentified.

An oversized Hamilton BeachMixette is presented at a convention in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 11, 1960.

Detroit policemen demonstrate steel armament designed for use in combating riot crowds and barricaded gunmen in Detroit, Mich., Jan. 18, 1956. The armament will soon become available at all precincts.

Alfred Mederer, 27, a newsreel photographer on the lookout for a mate, watches Siglinde Fendt, 19, on the screen in the privacy of theEthos Studio in Munich, Germany, Feb. 3, 1952.

A new type of cigarette lighter for car smokers is this Safe T Lite, which was recently announced by its manufacturer in Los Angeles, Calif., Oct. 1, 1950. The driver drops a cigarette into a conventional opening, and pushes a button located on the side. The button pops up to indicate that the cigarette is lit and ready to be smoked. The entire process can be done without taking one's eyes off the road.

Robert May, a Chicago advertising writer, places his hand on his creationRudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in front of his home in Skokie, Ill., Dec. 19, 1949. May dreamed upRudolph in 1939, at the request of his boss. The firm used the character as a Christmas promotion.

A young woman demonstrates a new type of loudspeaker, right, shown at the German Radio Exhibition in Frankfurt, West Germany, Aug. 14, 1959. The loudspeaker works on the basis of metal foils oscillating between electrodes. Makers say the tone range is much wider than that of the usual membrane loudspeaker. At left, radio and record player units feed the loudspeaker. The makers is Firma Max Braun.